Water Quality - Lake Sarah

At one time Lake Sarah was a popular vacation area with many resorts.  The resorts have been sold and converted to single family residential homes.  The lake is still a popular fishing and boating area but degrading water quality has severely limited its use for body contact recreation. In the early 1990’s, the Commission, Three Rivers Park District, the cities of Greenfield and Independence, and the Hennepin Conservation District (HCD) undertook the Clean Water Partnership Project to conduct a diagnostic feasibility study. The resulting Diagnostic Study Report and Implementation Plan were published in December 1996. They are broken into parts for ease of downloading.

            Lake Sarah Diagnostic Study Report

                  Part 1

                  Part 2

                  Part 3

                  Part 4

                  Part 5

                  Part 6

                  Part 7

                  Part 8

            Implementation Plan

                  Part 1

                  Part 2

                  Part 3

                  Part 4

                  Part 5

In 2005 the Lake Sarah Stakeholders Committee, a group of citizens concerned about the water quality of the lake, requested the Commission to develop a TMDL (total maximum daily load) for Lake Sarah.  Completion of the Lake Sarah TMDL will require a full year of inflow stream monitoring and an additional six months to write the feasibility report and develop the work plan to identify best management practices that will ultimately improve Lake Sarah’s water quality.

In September 2005 the Commission formally requested assistance from Three Rivers Park District in developing the TMDL for Lake Sarah. It is anticipated this work will begin in 2006. 

The Stakeholders Committee can be contacted by emailing Jerry Wise at jerrywise@frontiernet.net.